Rucka Rucka Ali (born January 27, 1987) is an American rapper, radio personality, singer, comedian, and satirist most noted for his song parodies on YouTube. He has been labeled one of the most successful artists to come out of YouTube, where he has received over 100 million hits[1] with parodies such as "Ching Chang Chong", "Ima Korean", "Justin's Beaver" and "Ebola (La La)". He has released six independent studio albums, three of which charted in the BillboardTop Comedy Albums.[2]

Contents

Most of Rucka Rucka Ali's musical content pertains to parodies containing lyrics for shock value, often including ethnic stereotypes. Celebrities and politicians whom he has imitated on more than one occasion include Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, One Direction and Kim Jong-il (also his son, Kim Jong-un). He often auto-tunes his vocals. He also makes use of satirical alter egos, like fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, but more satirical. He has multiple alter egos, such as DJ Not Nice (Asian), Seymour Schwartz (Jewish) and Toby Queef (white American redneck).

Rucka Rucka Ali used to have a podcast named "Ruckas Late Night Power Hour" that ran from 2011 to 2012. He now has a new podcast called "The Rucka Nucka Podcast" and continues to release songs regularly.

In December 2014, alongside Andy Dick, he announced that his new album Black Man of Steal would be released in January 2015.[7]

Some critics have labeled Ali as a racist as a reaction to his songs, although his humor seems heavily influenced by mainstream comedy television shows such as South Park, Family Guy, and The Chapelle Show.[1] His videos and YouTube channels are frequently removed (since he started creating music videos he has had 18[citation needed] YouTube channels deleted for terms of service violations), but are reuploaded by his fans, who call themselves "Nuckas".

In 2010, three British students were suspended from school when a Korean child was offended as they showed one of Rucka's videos "Ima Korean" to their class while studying culture. The school's headmaster called the song "probably racist", which was used as the title for Rucka Rucka Ali's next album.[8]

On July 24, 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali released the song "Zayn Did 9/11" (a parody of Selena Gomez's "Come & Get It") to YouTube which mocked Muslim One Direction member Zayn Malik, jokingly saying he committed the September 11 terrorist attacks. The single cover features a silhouette of Malik in front of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as they were attacked.[9] The song, along with an accompanying music video released several days later, angered One Direction fans and others.[10]Business Standard called the song "offensive" and a "racist attack" on Malik.[11] In early August 2013, Malik's fans successfully petitioned to have it removed from iTunes. Rucka Rucka Ali's Twitter account was also suspended indefinitely for unknown reasons, which resulted in him creating a new one.[12]

In late November 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali was involved in another controversy after his song "Only 17", a parody of "Just A Dream" by Nelly, was accidentally played uncensored over the speakers at a McDonalds in Wales.[13][14][15] Subsequently, McDonalds issued an apology to the offended customers.[16] That same week, Rucka Rucka Ali responded to the controversy on his YouTube channel by jokingly demanding a personal apology from the restaurant.[17]